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TRP: Ombre and Raef (Spying)
370, night Setting: The castle The items on the tray rattled gently as he pushed the door to the library open with a hip, trying not to spill the tea and milk. Raef let out a soft puff of air when he managed it. The door swung gently closed behind him. He found Ombre nestled in a little nook with the scroll. She'd taken to trying to decipher it after they'd failed. It still rankled him that he could read the damn thing, but not understand it. "Hey," he said, setting the tea laden tray down. "Any progress?" IZZY Ombre looked up. Her eyes glowed from the spell Mishka had bought her, and her general expression was bright. "Nope! I'm tryin', though. This spell is really great." She looked down, excited, then back up. "Ohh, is that tea for me?" MINK Raef grinned. "It's great," he agreed, sitting down near Ombre. He pulled off one of the cup and saucers before filling it with tea from the kettle. "Mmhmm. Sugar and milk?" IZZY "Yes, please!" she chirped, already distracted with reading again. MINK Raef measured out the sugar and milk, stirred, and passed the cup and saucer over with a cookie on it. He then made himself a cup. "Think it'll do any good?" IZZY "The tea? Yes. Always," she said solemnly, but then almost immediately cracked a grin before taking a sip. MINK Raef snorted into his tea quietly. "It's good for the soul or some shit." He chuckled and glanced at the scroll. "Should've come with a code." IZZY "Yeah." She wrinkled her nose at the scroll and reluctantly admitted, "I don't really think I'm gonna get anywhere. You remember -- back before the Calamity and stuff, when we were kids -- did they have decoder rings in Alabaster? Just little ciphers for kids to play with. I keep wishing this thing had one," she said wistfully. MINK "...dunno..." Raef took another sip of tea. If Alabaster had the rings, he didn't know. Kids were fuckin' weird when he was a kid. "...maybe Lyra can magic one up." IZZY "I could ask her for help. She's neat," Ombre said thoughtfully, then got distracted again. "Man. Those rings were a lotta fun. I bet you and Goro would've both loved'em." She hesitated a second, and fidgeted in her seat. "Hey. Um. Y'know how a bit back, I won that favor?" MINK "They'd've come in handy." Thank whoever he didn't have to do a lot of decoding in his life. He broke off a piece of cookie. "Yeah." IZZY She fidgeted some more, nervous. "Ummm. You can say no, 'cause, y'know, I don't wanna ask you to do stuff you don't wanna do ..." MINK Raef turned a little in his seat, not a fidget, but she was nervous and...she never seemed nervous. He gave her an encouraging smile. "It's all good. What do you want?" IZZY She smiled back a little. She really liked Raef. She felt like maybe he'd do it even if he didn't really want to, but she wasn't sure who else she could ask. He was an assassin and all. He'd be good at it. She umm'd again. "So -- so y'know how Goro is gonna marry Hansel?" MINK He quirked an eyebrow, surprised at the line of questioning. "Yeah." IZZY "Goro is, like -- my best friend." She said it real firmly, like someone was questioning it. "And I really want him to be happy and safe and stuff." She made a face, and a little grudgingly said, "I don't ... I don't like Hansel," 'cause she wasn't sure if anyone had noticed, 'cause normally she liked everyone, "but I guess he knows how much I care about Goro --" (That was probably because she'd threatened to explode him if he hurt Goro, but listen.) "-- so, a little while back, um, he asked me what he could like, do to make it so I'd, um, not mind them getting married. Like, kinda, give my blessing, I guess. And I didn't know what to ask for!" she blurted, flopping on the table abruptly and stretching her arms out. "Usually I just like people! I don't know how to make them make me like them!" Goddess, she'd gotten this far and still not said what the favor was, so she straightened back up hastily, flapping her hands around. "So, so, since you're all sneaky, and stuff, I was hoping you could kinda ... spy on Hansel? A little? And tell me if, like, y'know, when he thinks no one's paying attention, he's doing shady stuff." She gave him an apprehensive look, 'cause she knew Raef was buddies with Hansel too, but he wasn't like Goro or Mishka, and she was pretty sure Larkin would just laugh if Ombre asked her to do it, and of course Ombre couldn't ask Jonn, and she just didn't know any other sneaky people. She figured Raef was her best bet. MINK The story was almost as interesting as the favor. Raef opened his mouth, closed it, opened it, and let out a puff of air. Spying wasn't a problem. Spying on his best friend was...or it mostly was...and how the fuck was he supposed to know what was shady? He fucking killed people for a living when he was younger and, even now, he did shit for Larkin and Finch. And, if asked, Anwyll, too. "I, uh...I can try," he answered slowly. It didn't really feel right. "...he's a good guy, Ombre." IZZY She made a face again and sullenly mumbled, "He's not good enough for Goro." Then she wiggled in place a bit, not able to stay still. "I just wanna know that, like, when he's not with Goro, he's still acting the same as when he is with Goro." MINK Raef snorted softly. He was pretty sure people's say the same about Az or Griffin...or that he wasn't good enough for either one, which was true. "Okay, okay." He sighed before finishing off his tea. IZZY Ombre let out a relieved oof and melted down in her chair. She started to thank Raef, then impulsively straightened back up to throw her arms around him first, and whispered, "Thanks." MINK He wrapped his arms around her to give her a squeeze. "'Welcome." He smiled, squeezed again, and let go. Now he had to hope Hansel didn't kill him when he found out. IZZY --- In Freeport, Hansel spent most of his time hanging out in his, Mishka's, and Goro's room. When he came down to eat, though, someone bumped into him, and he elbowed them back, and a little while later there was an entire brawl. He came out of it smug and bloody, and bought a few drinks, and hung around until Goro skulked in and spotted him and started scowling over his bruises. Hansel grinned and scooped him up. For a while after that he kept just hanging out at the inn, until Mishka got back, and then the two of them headed out. They hit bar after bar -- Hansel started off wearing Mishka's mask, not making himself look significantly different, but toning down the scars and replacing the broken tusk. After a couple of poker games where Mishka cheated and Hansel started fights when Mishka got caught out, though, he ditched the mask and just looked like himself. He and Mishka kept going from place to place, clearly hitting old haunts from their pirate days, leaving things livelier than they found them -- singing shanties, gambling, drinking, getting into scraps. Nothing at all out of the ordinary for Freeport. It sort of became apparent that this was what Hansel's life used to be, in its entirety, and it was comfortable for him to slip back into it. Against the backdrop of sleepy Glimmerton, he was a fucking menace, but here he was just another pirate, and no other pirate bore him any ill will over it. Towards the end of the night, he scooped a laughing Mishka up, and they headed back for their inn, murmuring and flirting and snickering. They collected Goro and turned in, disappearing for the night, and when Hansel wandered down for breakfast he looked hungover and pleased with himself, and cheerfully greeted -- and was greeted by -- several people he'd gotten in fights with before. MINK -- He'd spent enough nights, and days, to be able to tell Ombre Hansel was fine, and more than enough time away from his own family. Once he was back at the castle, he searched out Ombre, finding her in the library again. "Hey," he said with a smile as he sat down on the bench beside her. IZZY She perked up. She figured he was here about the favor, and all, and she was already fidgeting around in place, 'cause she wasn't really sure what she even wanted to hear. "Hey!" MINK "He doesn't do anything shady. Drinks, acts like a kid, that's it." Raef chuckled softly. "He's fine." IZZY Ombre grumbled a little. "'Kay. But, like." She huffed, and then the frustration broke and she scooted over close to Raef and plonked her face into his shoulder. MINK Raef hooked an arm around Ombre, giving her a gentle squeeze. "He'll take care of 'im," he promised. If not, well, then he'd have a talk with Hansel. IZZY "I guess," she said. Now she was just moping. She cuddled against Raef, because he felt ... safe, like that. Like she could do that kinda stuff. MINK Raef snorted with quiet amusement. "Wanna do somethin' to get your mind off it?" IZZY "What kinda somethin'?" Ombre asked, trying to sound suspicious. MINK "mmm..." Raef tapped his fingers lazily on Ombre's side. "...want to go into town? There's a small act in town." IZZY She squirmed around 'cause she didn't like leaving the castle. Glimmerton wasn't far, though. It wasn't like going to Skyport. "What kinda act?" MINK "Small magic act." He shrugged. He hadn't seen it yet; he thought about taking Az and Tikva, if she'd sit. IZZY "We could show'em up," she said thoughtfully. "The Trickster and the Rapscallion ..." This was starting to sound kinda fun. Maybe. MINK Raef grinned mischievously. "I think we can more than show them." stormbotToday at 6:47 PM Ombre made a hmm that turned into an ehhhn. "Ooor. What if, instead ... we stayed home ... and I taught you some more tricks?" END Category:Text Roleplay